


003 Red

by Era_Penn



Series: 100 Faces of Tony Stark [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Colors, Gen, Guilt, Morbid Humor, Redemption, Team Bonding, Tony Feels, Trust Issues, friends - Freeform, self-hate, symbolic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-18
Updated: 2014-01-18
Packaged: 2018-01-09 03:25:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1140862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Era_Penn/pseuds/Era_Penn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I <i>said</i>,” Clint replied, adding emphasis. “Why isn’t there any red or gold around your tower or the Malibu house? I mean, I thought it was your favorite color combination, what with Iron Man and all.”</p><p>Tony set down his soldering iron. “Are you kidding me? You came down here to ask me about colors?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	003 Red

“Tony. Tony? You in there, buddy?”

“Wha - oh, Clint! What brings you to my sanctuary?”

Clint poked his head out of the ceiling tiles. Tony watched, keeping his worktable between them. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Clint - he just didn’t trust anybody. Not after Obadiah had almost destroyed him. He didn’t even really trust Rhodey or Pepper anymore beyond what he had to; often he did have to just to have a semblance of stability in his life, someone to ground himself on. They were the two people he had allowed to hold his heart in their hands at his most vulnerable. He had to trust them.

“What?”

“I _said_ ,” Clint replied, adding emphasis. “Why isn’t there any red or gold around your tower or the Malibu house? I mean, I thought it was your favorite color combination, what with Iron Man and all.”

Tony set down his soldering iron. “Are you kidding me? You came down here to ask me about colors?”

“Well, I was curious.” Clint said. “And if I didn’t come down here I’d never have a chance to ask.”

“Speaking of, how did you get through my security on the vents?”

“ _I thought it likely that you would not want your team to deal with those particular defenses, sir,_ ” Jarvis interjected.

“A little forewarning next time, J.”

“You are dodging the question.” Clint accused.

“So? It’s my suit and they’re my buildings, so why does it matter?” Tony sighed. “I hate the color red. Especially the garish shade the Iron Man is. Thus, none in my homes.”

“But why put it on the suit, then?”

Tony thumped his head on the table. “You don’t do half-measures, do you, Hawk? We need alcohol for this conversation. Drawer on your left.” he was struck by how quickly Clint complied. The Hawk trusted him; he just couldn’t bring himself to trust the archer.

“We will drink _after_ you answer the question, if you answer.” 

If? Wait, Clint was letting him run away? Well now that he’d thought that, of course, Tony couldn’t. He didn’t do running. He’d done it once, never again.

“Red. Gold.” Tony grumbled. “Idiot, getting hung up on something so simple. Gold is the heart of a man and the sand and the sun beating down on skin. Red is the skin and the hands and the heart and the sky and the heat.”

“...What?”

Tony sighed. “Do you know about how I built the first version of my suit?”

“After Afghanistan, right?”

“Huh. Apparently my hacking was successful. I will answer your question on one condition. This answer does not get back to SHIELD. They don’t realize the importance of the Suit, and they don’t get to know. I don’t actually trust anyone, you see.”

“Fair enough.”

“I didn’t build the Mark 1 after Afghanistan, and I didn’t build it before. I built it during. See, these lovely terrorists were paid by one Obadiah Stane -” he spat the name - “to kill me. But when they realized I was, well, me, they thought of a more useful task for me.”

Clint nodded. “Building weapons, I assume.”

“Precisely. The Jericho missle. I didn’t, obviously. Anyway, I had shrapnel working its way to my heart, so they took drastic measures and buried a car battery in my chest to magnetize the things. Nasty little buggers. Doctor who did it was named Yinsen, right genius, wish I’d met him sooner. Oh, and I was awake while they dug out half of my chest cavity. That was fun.”

Clint hissed. “You have a twisted sense of humor.”

“Yeah, yeah. Anyway, they presented me with the option of doing things the easy way or the hard way, yadayadayada, the usual bull. I said no. They decided to… persuade me. Waterboarding is fun at the best of times, and when you’re attached to a live battery with exposed wires, it’s just that much better!” Tony paused for breath. “So eventually I said yes, after a pep talk from Yinsen, and got them to get me tools, supplies.”

“Idiots.”

“Exactly. I built the arc first, replace the battery with a better, less volatile… no, that’s a lie, but less painful anyway, power source. And then I built the mark 1. Only things didn’t go as planned, and shit happened, and in the end Yinsen was dead, blood spilling over my hands.”

“So the red and gold?”

“I burned down the camp. Gold sun beating down, Yinsen’s blood on my hands along with the blood of millions if not billions of others.” Tony sighed. “Gold is the heart of a man and the sun and the fire and the sand on skin. Red is the skin and the hands and the fire and the sky and the heat.”

“So they’re redemption colors.” Clint said, thoughtful. “I get that. What happened to Stane? I bought the cover story.”

Despite the tiny sigh of relief Tony ruthlessly quashed when he realized that Clint really did _actually_ get it, and wasn’t just going through the motions, the billionaire continued. “I came home, did a little digging via Pepper, found out he’d been double-dealing and tried to kill me, and then I fought him and destroyed both he and the Iron Monger. Almost killed me, too, took the arc to power the Monger. Thankfully, Pepper is sentimental.” he eyes flicked to the glass case in a place of pride at the very corner of an out of the way table. 

“So red. Not your favorite?”

“Not so much.”

"...So what defenses _do_ you have on the vents?"


End file.
